


We're all just Animals

by fotoshop_cutout



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-17 04:03:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14180157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fotoshop_cutout/pseuds/fotoshop_cutout
Summary: A race of people with distinctive traits was thought to be lost in the Pegasus Galaxy long before the Atlantis Expedition reclaimed the lost city. As allies of the Satedans, Ronon is excited when he unwittingly meets a child from this race—the Lucians. They are stronger, faster, and heal more quickly than most humans. In the database there is hidden information about these Lucians, but this is only turned up after Colonel Sheppard has gone missing on their new world, Bvaso. When Sheppard returns to Atlantis the man is different—changed. When Major Lorne is captured by Todd, the Wraith, and ends up in a situation where there is only one way out, he accepts the bite from a Lucian Alpha. It’s only when he escapes back to Atlantis and sees Colonel Sheppard that the men begin to realize that there’s something more afoot.





	We're all just Animals

**Author's Note:**

> Work Title from "Animals" by Creep. Chapter Title from "Silhouette" by Active Child ft. Ellie Goulding. Un-beta'd, if you find inconsistencies/flaws, feel free to let me know in the comments. I strive to correct as much as I can. Notes at the end of this chapter will describe the Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics of this piece.

The market was teeming with life. The Athosians had two stands to themselves, and that was the team’s first stop: to see if they required any assistance and to see if they needed breaks and whatnot. John wasn’t the best at doing much more than running errands to grab grub for the Athosians running the two stands, so he did what he could instead of putting down his gear as Teyla had as she stepped in to give them breaks. Ronon was even helping out, whereas Rodney was just sitting back and whining about the sun being too bright and harsh on this planet. As he slathered sunscreen on himself and sucked down water while sitting in the shade, John just ran back and forth supplying the Athosians with food. It wasn’t the best use of his time, but he’d had worse off-world missions. This one was easy enough since the market had its own type of security wandering around and didn’t require his team to be ever-vigilant.

That being said, they did have another objective other than to help out their allies, and so after breaks were served and the team was back together, the quartet set off on their mission: to see what they could acquire by way of trade in this marketplace. There was still plenty that Atlantis could use, even though they now had a rather stable and regular connection with Earth. Food was a rather big one, with medical supplies and ammunition being close seconds. Rodney was still on the hunt for something that made better coffee than some of the other stimulant-types of drinks they’d found smattered throughout the Pegasus Galaxy thus far. So the team peeled off into pairs, knowing better than to separate into individuals even if the market was as protected as it seemed to be.

Rodney took off in one direction and with a roll of his eyes Ronon followed him, leaving Teyla and John to wander about and talk about the changes New Athos had been putting into affect regarding their new ability to market their goods. “A stimulated economy is all well and good, Colonel, I just hope that our people can keep up with the new, higher demand.”

He heard her loud and clear, but unfortunately had no ideas of how to help—it just wasn’t his thing. He shrugged with one shoulder and let his gaze wander around to the different stalls as he replied, “I’m sure that with Halling taking charge of it, we’ll be just fine.”

Teyla had taken to including John as an Athosian. He guessed it was an honorary thing: something meant to make him feel as though he belonged, even though he clearly was not of her kind. He did enjoy her style of fighting, Athosian pottery, and the tea that he’d taken to drinking morning, noon, and night. The fact that Teyla included him in this made him feel… something. Something good, he was sure, but something he refused to consider for any length of time.

The woman nodded at him, seeming to be both appreciative of his verbal comfort as well as amused at his awkwardness in doing so. Her slightly raised eyebrow and quirk to her lips was the only answer she gave. They continued to peruse the wares in the market, keeping their eyes open for anything that could be useful for Atlantis or the Athosian settlement.

~*~

Ronon followed Rodney through the market, his eyes mainly flicking back and forth to ensure that the scientist wasn’t going to walk into something, someone, or even out of the marketplace entirely. He reached out and corrected the man’s path a couple of times: once by grabbing his vest and placing him on the correct course to avoid a corner post of a stall, and the second time he put himself bodily in the way so he didn’t walk out of the market and down a side street. He grumbled responses to the man as McKay rambled on about finding coffee without actually paying any mind to what was being said. He kept watching the other people in the market, knowing well enough that pickpockets and thieves tended to crop up when one wasn’t aware of their surroundings.

It was in this way that, while Rodney was taste-testing some cured meat that was offered to him, Ronon saw a small hand sneaking around the back of a stall, snatching at a bread loaf. He moved quickly, slipping away as the scientist chewed thoughtfully. He followed the quick, light footsteps around a corner, saw the perpetrator just ahead of him as he darted around another corner. Ronon picked up the pace, skirting a few broken down boxes that littered the narrow side street. The turn led him into a darkened alleyway, mere steps behind the boy at this point. With a small amount of luck, he reached out and encircled the boy’s wrist with his fingers, yanking just hard enough to put a stop to his movements, intending on either returning the stolen merchandise or persuading the boy to pay for it.

In a split second both of them were frozen: the boy having whirled with a snarl lifting his upper lip, exposing a flash of a pronounced canine, and red eyes fixing on Ronon’s hazel ones. The low rumble of a growl passed the boy’s lips which broke the frozen moment in time; the boy extricated his hand from the ex-runner’s grasp expertly, taking off and ducking through some grating that the man couldn’t follow him through. Ronon kicked a box and watched the opening for a good long moment before Rodney came barreling down the alleyway out of breath and dispelled any hope of the kid coming back in this direction.

By the time they made it back to the city, Ronon had decided he needed to make sure he hadn’t been making it out to be more than what it had been. He drew Teyla aside after shedding their gear and ducked his head for some semblance of privacy. “I know that Sateda fell, do we know of Orú?”

Teyla’s look of surprise lasted only a moment before she recovered. “As far as I know, it fell not long after Sateda,” She paused and gave him a measured look, “Did you have friends there?”

Ronon shifted his feet and frowned at the woman he had made his friend, perhaps even family by now. “Not… as such. I was more curious because I saw a boy today—”  
“I’m sure it was just—” Teyla began, but Ronon continued his thought with a firmness to his tone.

“—A boy with red eyes and teeth like a predator’s. He was strong, too, strong enough to break my grasp.” His eyes met the Athosian’s patiently while the gears turned in her head.

“A Lucian? Are you certain?” She seemed contemplative before she spoke again, he took the moment to run a hand through his dreads, trying to push them back from his face. “I thought the Wraith had wiped them out. That they were too much of a threat…”

“You and me both.” Ronon sighed and pushed his hand into his pants pocket, recalling the rumors he’d caught about the Lucians suddenly disappearing while he’d been on the run.

Teyla watched him for a long moment and then made the decision for the both of them. “We should tell John about this.”

“Look, it was just a boy,” He began, but he knew his argument held no real water. His shoulders fell under her gaze and he acquiesced, “I just don’t know if there are enough of them left for this to be something.”

“We should at least leave that decision up to them.” Her statement wasn’t incorrect, Ronon just didn’t want to be the boy who called wolf—certainly, if Orú was still around, it would have been a good suggestion for an ally against the Wraith. At this point, Ronon didn’t know if they would find more than rumors to chase. And if they did? Well, it might be that they would find people who even wished to ally with Atlantis. Teyla marched him after the Colonel, calling after him through the halls. He guessed they would find out.

“So, what you’re saying is that there’s a race of people who are scary enough for the _Wraith_ to be afraid of? Oh yes, let’s go introduce ourselves. By all means—” Rodney’s outburst was cut off by Sheppard speaking up.

“And you think you saw one of these kids in the marketplace?” He was evaluating Ronon’s intel. The ex-runner nodded once, swiveling in his chair as he addressed the other members of the team as well as the Senior Staff on Atlantis—SGA-1 and SGA-2 were present, Dr. Keller, Mr. Woolsey, and even Colonel Caldwell had stopped in from the Daedalus.

“I know a Lucian when I see one. I saw one today. If we go back there, we could catch up with him again.” Ronon had to project confidence. Some measure of certainty, even if he knew it was a long shot. He could track the boy, yes, but who knew where that could lead? They could be led back to the gate, and have no clue where to begin with the backlog of addresses dialed. Still, if the Lucians were out there somewhere, and the man had a hunch that some of them were, then they could make for an amazing weapon against the Wraith.

Teyla stood in support, having described the tales she had heard of the people from Orú. Even though some of the information had to be corrected, Ronon was more pleased that she agreed with him from the start. They were still discussing the logistics of a successful mission versus a failed one, but from where Ronon sat, it sounded as though they planned to go back to look for the boy. At least then Ronon might get some answers—what had happened, where the Lucians were now.

“Alright, you have both Teams One and Two for this, Colonel, I expect to hear some sort of news in regards to our search in the next few hours. Gear up, you have permission to head back to MK3-449 to see what you can find.” Mr. Woolsey spoke, dismissing the teams to get their gear back on (in the case of their team) and head back out to the marketplace.

Rodney was complaining about a lack of a shower, rest, and coffee, but Ronon tuned him out even as they geared up and made it back to the gate room.

~*~

John couldn’t take the complaints Rodney was spewing anymore, so he stalked away through the streets and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Teyla so she could attempt to appease the grumpy man. She gave him an understanding look and the military commander of Atlantis let his shoulders slump, making his way back toward the market, hand lifting to his radio and squeezing the button down while ducking his chin so he could speak into it. “Sheppard to Lorne: any luck?”

He waited a long moment and was about to ask again when his radio crackled to life, “Lorne here: not so much, sir, and the market is going to close down soon.”

John Sheppard scrunched up his face slightly as he tipped his head and listened more closely. He could hear Lorne’s voice without the aid of the radio—he must be relatively close. He shifted his trajectory and went for a side street to angle toward his second in command rather than using the radios. It took him just long enough for Lorne to speak into the radio once more, a small amount of concern touching his tone, “Sir?”

By this point John was stepping out from the shadow of the buildings and emerged onto the street just far enough away from his second in command that he just raised his hand and called out rather than fussing with the radio. “Over here, Major.”

The man turned around and raised his eyebrows, speaking just loud enough that John could hear it as he approached, “Did you want to call it for today and check back tomorrow?”

John stopped within speaking distance and frowned as he looked up toward the sun. There was still ample time before the sun went down, but the kid Ronon had supposedly seen could either be making this his home or could have been a helping hand from one of the other stalls at the market today. If the latter was the case, coming back wouldn’t necessarily mean they would find him. He had just shifted enough to bump shoulders with the man, opening his mouth to call it and have them start gathering at the gate when his radio crackled again.

“Colonel!” An out-of-breath Rodney was puffing into the radio, “Teyla and I are in pursuit,” There was another break and John reached out to smack at Lorne, his feet already moving to lead him back to where he’d left the Athosian and scientist.

Lorne reached up and returned the call, “Lorne here, where are you?”

Rodney’s answer came in the form of a whine that had the two rolling their eyes, “I don’t know, in some alley— _ow!_ In some alley headed—where’s the sun—East!”

He really had to teach the scientists how to properly use the radios as opposed to how they were currently being used. John was about to turn into a main roadway when Lorne’s loosely curled fist tapped him on the shoulder and redirected him toward another side street. “This way’s faster.”

John followed and then got ahead when the street squeezed to only allow one person to pass between two of the houses. Lorne was on his heels and they quickly assessed the new street before hearing a crash and string of curses down a ways. Immediately they picked up the chase again and caught up with Rodney, limping his way down an alley filled with boxes and other junk. “She’s still following, they turned right up there.”

The scientist gestured and sent Lorne off without hesitation. John held back and Rodney waved him off, “Go, go!”

Ronon had beat him to it and was passing by Lorne as they attempted to catch up to Teyla and the boy in question. John had to marvel at the ex-runner’s stamina and length of stride—he had a hard time keeping up with that on their daily runs, let alone when the man really let loose. As the three of them turned into another alley Ronon slowed so quickly that Lorne nearly ran smack into his back, only able to stop himself from doing so by angling himself and drawing up even with the other man. John, meanwhile, wasn’t able to skid to a stop and managed to stop himself on the two of them, the air in his lungs rushing out all at once and leaving him gasping. Ronon gave him an odd look, but Lorne just patted his chest twice and then gestured to where Teyla was seated across from a group of four boys and a girl, all watching them with wide eyes.

“It is okay, they are friends.” The woman reassured them. One of them, the largest of the boys, stood between the rest of the children and the three grown men, his eyes flashing red and his lip lifting to reveal a quartet of sharp canines—too sharp to have been from a normal human.

“They won’t—” Teyla began.

“It’s you.” Ronon breathed out the words, his eyes resting on the Lucian boy. John looked between them, and was about to step in to remove the tension when the boy’s eyes slid from Ronon to his and a low growl rolled out from the boy’s lips. It was in that moment that he recalled something about wolves—about predators in general—and how in order to show submission you broke eye contact and looked down. He slowly, intentionally, looked down to the boy’s feet.

As the rumble of a growl stopped, his eyes darted back up to the boy. He was still standing as a guard, but his eyes were back to a normal brown color and his lip was back to a neutral position. One of the other boys peered around him and then another. Teyla took a breath and she went to speak once more when the lead boy finally said something, “Why do you care?”

His gaze slid away from lingering on the trio of men and returned to Teyla. She gave a pleasant half-smile and addressed him as she would anyone else—like he was an adult like them. “We were not certain that you were Lucian, but now that we know, we just have a few questions.”

The boy glanced over at the three of them and he changed the way his body was angled: open, honest. The rest of the children behind him shifted positions too, one of them standing and allowing their leader to sit in his stead. Lorne nudged John with his shoulder and a look passed between them before he was slipping back past his commander to guard the end of the alley, insuring that they would not be interrupted. The conversation that followed was mostly confirming their suspicions and finding out that all five of the children before them were Lucian. Ronon and Teyla were the ones who knew what questions to ask, so John allowed them to take the lead.

Watching Ronon with the children was interesting to say the least—he seemed to respect them more so than John had seen him respect the grown marines back on Atlantis. He wondered what exactly had caused that sort of regard for Lucians; as he watched Teyla he noticed that she too was appreciative of the children’s heritage. She spoke carefully when asking after their home world, which the leader admitted was destroyed. John listened as he described what he knew about what had happened, although he had only just been born.

As the sun began to fall behind the buildings and they were beginning to struggle to see in the dim light of the alley, John broke into the conversation, “Do you guys have somewhere to sleep?”

He only asked because they really didn’t look like they had a safe place to land. Their clothes were grubby and torn, patched hastily in some places, and their skin looked as though it hadn’t been washed in a while. The oldest of the five turned to look at him and shrugged, “We’ve been using a shed behind the mill.”

John blinked and met Teyla’s concerned gaze with one of his own. “Do you think—?”

He started to ask about the Athosians perhaps taking them in but Teyla was already nodding, “We could bring you to New Athos, you would be safe there.”

The children looked around at one another before the leader began, “We don’t take charity.”

Teyla shook her head now, “Don’t worry, this would be in exchange for your help with the harvest.”

This seemed to appease the leader. The girl reached forward and curled her hand around the boy’s arm, speaking just barely loud enough for John to catch, “Kryn, we need food.”

The boy puffed a sigh and nodded once, turning his eyes back to Teyla, “We will accept your offer.”

Rodney had taken a seat at the mouth of the alley next to Lorne and was snacking on a powerbar clearly obtained from the Major. Lorne was glancing back at them and raised an eyebrow at the troop of children traipsing along with them. John waved toward them and offered a grin, “We’re bringing the kids to New Athos.”

After clearing it with Mr. Woolsey back on Atlantis, SGA-2 returned to the city and SGA-1 escorted the small pack, as they called themselves, to New Athos. Along the way John learned that Kryn was an alpha, and thus the de facto leader of this pack. The girl, Marrin, along with the three other boys were betas, and made up the rest of the pack. Marrin had mentioned the rumors of more Lucians being alive somewhere, and Kryn had corroborated that. He gave a couple of addresses to planets he knew had one or two, or were trading worlds.

When Ronon asked about why they were not with others of their kind, Kryn snarled. “The Hunters have taken control of Bvaso, those of us who have managed to get through the gate are not in any hurry to return.”

Which broached the subject of the civil war that their people had apparently been enduring even through the Wraith cullings—there were Lucians on Orú initially, but then people began to settle on their planet as they were stronger than most humans and were able to fight back against the Wraith. Soon, the other people feared them almost as much as they feared the Wraith, and began ostracizing them, hunting them down, and killing them. The Lucian population had been dwindling ever since, and the Hunters—the people who had initially sought protection against Wraith from the Lucians—were now hunting them to extinction.

John thought the most interesting thing he learned, however, was that in the dark their eyes began to glow—Kryn’s eyes turned into that wild red he’d flashed at them before, while the rest of the pack had an amber-golden color to their eyes. They apparently could see well enough in the dark due to this, and it made John wonder just what sort of quirk to the DNA could cause that. He’d have to ask Rodney about it.

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of typical Omegaverse:
> 
> Primary gender is female/male  
> Secondary Gender is Alpha/Beta/Omega
> 
> Within the second gender, Betas are the majority of the population, and freely mate with any of the other genders. Alphas are ‘top dogs’ and tend to not get along with one another. They may mate with one another, but tend to mate with Betas since they are readily available; Omegas are prized mates and are the most rare, with women making up a large percentage of them. However, male Omegas are even more sought after, since not only can they carry young, but they can protect them even better. That being said, it is unlikely to find one.
> 
> Omegas are meant to be Alpha-mates, and therefore are too rare to be mated with Betas. Alphas will claim Omegas as soon as they are able to, but Omegas are able to freely choose their mate—they can and will fight back. The stronger the Omega, the stronger the mating once accepted. This breeds stronger children and is highly sought after.
> 
> There are contraceptives that work for the Omega secondary gender regardless of the primary gender, and ‘Balancers’ are available for Alphas as well as Omegas. Alphas have ‘ruts’ ~1x every 6 months; Omegas have ‘heats’ approximately the same amount, though they are not always on the same schedule. Secondary gender generally is known at birth, but once puberty hits, those that have heats or ruts will begin to experience them.
> 
> A/B/O dynamics are only found in Lucians—Lucians are a specific race that are born with these traits among others, but by biting someone, an Alpha can pass on the Lucian trademark and literally build a pack. The other traits are as follows: heightened senses (smell, taste, hearing, sight in darkness); increases in strength and stamina, dexterity, making them more on the athletic side; Pronounced canines; Claws instead of blunt fingernails; healing ability that is beyond humans, but not quite on par with the Wraith (closer to Wraith than humans).  
> Secondary gender can be diagnosed through eye color most of the time, but only when shifted— Alphas glow Red, Betas are Yellow/Amber, Female Omegas are Blue, Male Omegas are Purple/Lavendar.
> 
> Wolfsbane/Monkshood is poisonous to Lucians, and the Hunters have used it freely on them in the past. It sucks and can cause all sorts of problems for them, from a slight allergic rash to causing them to go feral and eventual death depending on dose and the way it is introduced to them (airborne, physical, fed, etc.).


End file.
